Voyages

These are the voyages of the sailing vessel, Wings.

31 August 2024 | Faa'a International Airport, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
29 August 2024 | Pension Tiare Nui
25 August 2024 | Pension Tiare Nui
22 August 2024 | Pension Tiare Nui
12 August 2024 | Anchorage
28 June 2024 | Anchorage, AK
19 September 2023 | Pension Tiare Nui
15 September 2023 | Pension Tiare Nui
13 September 2023 | Pension Tiare Nui
11 September 2023 | Pension Tiare Nui
07 September 2023 | Apooiti Bay
03 September 2023 | Tapuamu, Taha'a
02 September 2023 | Tapuamu, Taha'a
31 August 2023 | Haamene Bay, Taha'a
29 August 2023 | Relais Mehana Hotel, Huahine
26 August 2023 | Fare, Huahine
19 August 2023 | Aloe Cafe, Viatape
13 August 2023 | Aloe Cafe, Viatape
11 August 2023 | Apooiti Bay mooring field

Progress to Date 8/20-22/24

22 August 2024 | Pension Tiare Nui
William Ennis | Rain and Sun, Wind!
Hello, World! I'm back in Raiatea for two weeks, but without Conni. Here's the story, if you didn't hear it.

Last year, we learned that our insurer would not insure our rig (mast and such) unless we replaced all of the rigging, the stainless steel cable that supports the mast. We arranged last year to have this work done, but the yard simply didn't do it. No re-rig, no insurance, no sailing...it's that simple.

This will be a maintenance trip and an attempt to herd the yard towards completing the work that they said they'd do. The mast is down, so the project has started, but not much more.

I've posted three pages on work and sights, but this is my first blog. The heat has been unusually hard on me this year.

Today is 22 August and I've been at it for almost a week. The weather has been abysmal, with wind and rain or just wind, all of which makes working outside very difficult. What's to show?

I've gotten two coats of good varnish on most of the cap rail, nothing on other wood. The yard worker below working on removing and replacing the mast step, and he's a young man who work well alone but is hardly a model of cleanliness. I've just stopped varnishing anything that he might touch since he invariably does touch it with some kind of white fiberglass dust on his hands and feet. These large white blotches are disheartening when I've taken time to sand and varnish. "Ne touchez pas le bois verni! C'est encore humide!" Don't touch the varnished wood! It's still wet!

I removed the dodger but why it was in place since it's the last thing stow is a major question. I have no idea. The vinyl window were filthy with yard grit so had to be well cleaned. This is usually a "Conni job", so I had to request detailed directions. It's given me an appreciation for her efforts.

I used the angle grinder that I brought and removed the flush water inlet fixture from the forward head. It required removing the old one by cutting it into pieces, then installing the new one that I brought. Fortunately, the toilet was completely empty and dry so the grossness factor was almost zero. It's a task that I only identified last season and even then realized that I had waited way too long.

Using the angle grinder again, I cut through some stainless steel hose clamps that needed to be replaced on our stuffing box, the mechanism that allows the propeller shaft to exit the boat but allows only drops of water into the boat. I've never seen a hose clamp corrode, but these were and only one required this serious treatment. They're all replaced now.

With the dodger down, I re-erected the aft boat cover section. It's small and I awaited a lull in the wind, so it's up.

The old VHF radio, an ICOM M402, failed to operate correctly. Without access to any diagnostic devices, I had to assume that anything in the transmission path was suspect, so I bought a new ICOM M330 and masthead antenna. I was able to install the new radio with little problem, although I had other research the connections between the GPS and radio and enter the Mobile Maritime Service Identity. It's been many years since I paid any attention to that number but it's how we and the boat are identified to emergency service systems. For whatever reasons, I had to enter the numbers the first time that the radio was on and in entering it, had only one opportunity. Why so serious?

The antenna was not my first concern, but the 20+ year old radio. I brought the antenna just in case. In this case, the antenna was the problem! In every transmitting radio antenna there's a cylindrical component called a loading coil. It effectively lowers the resonant frequency so that a small antenna will work. In any case, and don't worry if you don't give a shit about it, it's important. Personally, and no one I've spoken to about it has either, I've never seen a bad antenna. Usually they last 20-30 years with no problem, but this one had leaked water somehow. That water, definitely salt, had caused a lot of corrosion and had the coil had swollen enough to crack the load coil housing. Jeez, it's surprising that it worked at all! With the antenna on old drums, it was a simple matter to remove the old waterproofing that I had installed, remove the old antenna, and reinstall and waterproof the new one. I know what you're thinking. "Bud, you did a terrible job of waterproofing!" Not so. The waterproofing was between the PL259 coax fitting and the bottom of the load cell, so the leak came from above someplace.

There have been other and smaller tasks, but those are the major ones. I've been here a week and have one week to go. The heat has been hard on me this year and as hard as I've tried to keep hydrated, I've not been completely successful.
Comments
Vessel Name: Wings
Vessel Make/Model: Passport 40
Hailing Port: Anchorage, Alaska
Crew: William Ennis and Constance Livsey
About: We've been married since 1991, and both retired from our respective jobs (teacher and attorney) after long careers. We live in the most exotic of the United States: Alaska. We cruise on Wings for half the year, enjoying our home state the other part of the year.
Extra:
We've sailed Wings Southward from Alaska since August, 2010. We joined the BajaHaha from SoCal to Mexico in 2012. We joined the Pacific Puddle Jump in 2013 and crossed the Pacific Ocean. Wings "over-summered" in French Polynesia. We continued our journey through western French Polynesia, [...]
Home Page: http://svwings.com
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